Fight the Good Fight of Faith, English Edition

Lesson : The Entrance We Get • 

myself.” What would you say to him about his decision – is it a good one, and if not, why not?

In the last session ( The Enlistment We Make ) we learned that when we turned to God from idols and sin (repentance) and believed in Jesus of Nazareth as the risen Lord (faith), we simultaneously made a decision to enlist in the Lord’s army, by turning away from the kingdom of Satan to the Kingdom of God’s own Son. Now we will explore the riches we have since, through faith, we have been joined to Christ, and are said to be “in Christ.” Our union with Jesus by faith provides us with a new status and relationship before God (our position), a position of favor, adoption, and blessing as his child and citizen of his Kingdom. In addition to this, being “in Christ” also enables us to walk in his victory day by day as we fight the good fight of faith – and receive the power to walk in the Holy Spirit (our condition)! According to the New Testament, every one who believes in Jesus has been baptized into (joined with) Christ by the working of the Holy Spirit (cf. 1 Corinthians 12.13 “For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body – Jews or Greeks, slaves or free – and all were made to drink of one Spirit.”) When the Spirit baptized (placed us) into Christ, we were not only rescued from God’s wrath and given an eternity full of joy in his presence, but we also received a new status and relationship with God, given specifically to us because we have now been made one with Christ (see “33 Blessings in Christ” in the appendix). Truly, we have been blessed with many blessings because we trusted in Christ for our salvation. Our sins have been forgiven (Eph. 1.7; Col. 1.13), we have been reconciled to God, restored to fellowship with him (2 Cor. 6.18-19), and we have been adopted as a new child into the Father’s own household (Rom. 8.14-15, 23). One of the many wonderful benefits we have in Christ is our new membership and place in the Church, the Body of Christ. By faith, we have been joined to all believers everywhere, connected to God and to each other, and given the privilege to trust and grow and serve the Kingdom together as one people. Thank God, we need never fight the good fight as isolated people, in our own strength, by ourselves alone. All believers, from those who first believed until now, make up the one, amazing, Body of Christ. While there are many assemblies and local churches (church with a small “c”), there is in fact only one Church which began with Jesus and the apostles, and has been set apart for God’s purposes (church with a capital “C”). The Nicene Creed declares

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